Why are motorcycles so expensive?

[Mondeo Man]

I'd be interested to know whether it's always been this way and whether a similar situation pertains outside of UK.

But from my experience motorcycles are a complete rip off:

- A decent used scooter seems to command £700+. For that amount of money, I'd expect something more than, well... a scooter. You could get a perfectly good car for that and any car offers so much more than a glorified pushbike does.

- Unless they are true rarities, cars from the 70's and 80's (even 90's), are seen - rightly so - as old bangers. Barely sell for more than give-it-away prices. But it seems, as long as a bike runs, it can be sold for premium prices (£900+) - it is hard to find a decent bike, 30 years old, selling for less than you would need for a half decent 5-10 year old car.

-Old bikes have two ace cards: it's a "classic". Why? Becase it's old. It was shit in its day, and it's shit now. It's not actually worth more than £250 but it's going for £1250 and people are willing to pay...

- The ultimate ace in the sleeve. It's a "project". You mean, it's scrap metal? If I had an old Volvo 340 with no wheels, a broken engine, and rust holding it together. I'd sell it for what it is: a heap of shit. And I'd be happy to get beer money for it. If it's a bike, I can sell it as a "project" - ("the engine has blown up, other than that: it's a great runner!!) probably asking only a token amount less than I would if it actually worked and had wheels, etc!

Is there a reason for it? Could it be argued that motorcycles would be far more popular if they weren't - at every stage of the market - dispropotionately expensive?

Tthoughts?

[chris-red]

Supply and demand. It's only worth what someone will pay for it, if people are paying £700+ for scooter then that's the price. It isn't rocket science.
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[carlosthejack...]

I too drive a Mondeo, and would like it known that I have absolutely no affiliation to this man...

Quick question for OP. My £2k bike does 0-60 in 3.5 seconds. How much would you have to spend on a car for similar acceleration?
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Current rides: '05 VFR800 VTEC, '57 Mondeo 1.8 TDCi #58LEGEND

[Walloper]

[Skudd]

I too have a Mondeo and have no connections with either of the above two.

When you concider the R&D costs for such a small run of units, then perhaps the cost is in line.
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[Nexus Icon]

I sold my Mondeo.
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[carlosthejack...]

[Robby]

The biggest reason is rust.

A 20-30 year old car will be mostly made of rust. Keeping it on the road is very expensive, and the rest of it is likely to be knackered. If the car is any good, it will be worth a fair bit more.

A bike of a similar vintage is not going to have sufficiently bad rust to fail an MOT. MOT fail points are fairly easy to fix in most cases.

The price of small bikes has always been higher than it should, simply because of supply and demand. The demand is high, because anyone on L plates is limited to a maximum of 125cc. There are a lot of people out there with just a CBT.

A cheap bike can be kept going cheaply. A cheap car is more likely to need expensive and/or time consuming repairs.

[Skudd]

[Frost]

The cost of parts is a major factor. You can't sell a knackered bike for £50 just because the engine is blown, as you'd make more money stripping it down and selling the bits. Someone who has that bike will love it and be prepared to buy the bits to fix theirs up. Scooters sell for good money as not that many get sold new and many never survive as far as the second hand market

Cars on the other had are much more common than bikes. I once bought a car for £100 and used it through the winter then got £60 for it scrap!

[carlosthejack...]

[MarJay]

Have you not noticed that its much harder to get a MOT'd car for under a grand now? Pistonheads Shed Of The Week used to be chock full of interesting cars for a grand. Nowadays the best thing that appears is a ratty Peugeot 306 for £900.

Bikes haven't drastically changed in price since the scrappage scheme, unlike cars.
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[SpicyBlimp]

They aren't [/thread]

[P.addy]

[mistergixer]

I've previously owned a Mondeo (N reg V6 Ghia if anyone's interested), but I don't own one currently.

I am, however, currently considering purchasing another V6 Mondeo (undecided between V6 GhiaX, ST24 or ST200) or possibly even a Mondeo coupe <shocked gasp>.

[Skudd]

[blurredman]

My first car I bought early 2009 for £175 from ebay, tax and MOT. I had it until the other month when it was time to move on and narrow down the number of cars outside our house (got 5).. It was still passing MOT's, however only after a little welding due to rust every year. Sills etc & The seat mounts broke! Mind you, it was only rusty due to being kept on grass for months on end by the previous owner!

Probably only put £250 into that car.

You guys aren't looking at a very vague range of cars!
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CBT: 12/06/10, Theory: 22/09/10, Module 1: 09/11/10, Module 2: 19/01/11
Past: 1991 Honda CG125BR-J, 1992 (1980) Honda XL125S, 1996 Kawasaki GPZ500S, 1979 MZ TS150.
Current: 1973 MZ ES250/2 - 18k, 1979 Suzuki TS185ER - 10k, 1981 Honda CX500B - 91k, 1987 MZ ETZ250 (295cc) - 40k, 1989 MZ ETZ251 - 51k.

[MarJay]

[Llama-Farmer]

Do any of you hold your mondeo bumpers together with gaffer tape?

[carlosthejack...]

[MarJay]

Also, I think you'll find we have the cheapest second hand bikes in Europe. If we didn't, then the Polish et al would not come here to buy bikes for profit in their home country.

We also do not have massive taxes on vehicles unlike the scandinavian countries. In Norway for example, the luxury tax on a motorcycle is 100%, so even if you were to buy a £2000 CBR600 from the UK, you'd have to pay £2000 tax on import anyway.
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[Walloper]

Is a Mondeo kind of like a bike but not a bike in any shape or form?

Bikes are Sexy cars aren't.

It is fine to pay for good sex.
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[Pete.]

Cars are only cheap until you need to buy one
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[kerr]

[mistergixer]